I have some tasks that are scheduled to run on XP and I am wondering if I have to be logged in for them to run? Does anyone know?
Thanks!
They will run, provided the account that you set the tasks to run as has rights to execute them. On a server, that's a consideration, but on an XP-based PC pretty much any account will be able to be used as a scheduled task security context.
Yes, they will run if not specifically set to "Run only if logged on" but your drives will not yet be mapped. So if your task executes a program which relies on a particular drive mapping it will throw an exception.
I'm mentioning this because I ran into a similar issue a few weeks ago.
Just to clarify further, check the scheduled task's advanced properties (right click the task >> properties) and on the "Task" tab, make sure "Run only if logged on" is unchecked. By default, if you use the "Add Scheduled Task" wizard that box is unchecked, but it never hurts to double check. Also, remember that if you ever change that account's password your tasks will break. Might sound kinda obvious, but it causes for some forehead slapping times. Hilarity ensues. =)
To make sure that the task is running when you're not logged in, open the Scheduled Tasks window (Start >> Accessories >> System Tools >> Scheduled Tasks OR run box >> control schedtasks) and look in the "Last Run Time" and "Status" Columns. See if it has even run in the first place and then check the status to see if it completed successfully or returned some error code.
RE: drive mapping. Another solution to mapping/unmapping is to just use the full UNC path. Then you wouldn't have to worry about whether paths are mapped correctly.